cunningham's in kilwinning

[Amanda_Keeling]

 trying to locate the parents of: -

Henry Cunningham born c. 1834 married mary wales born c1836. in 1854

henry was born in or around the kilwinning area.

i am really struggling to find his parents

[kenjo]

Amamda, I will do you a tree, that you will have as a guide.

Amanda.
 
Mother,.
 Margaret Walker Cunningham Wallace.
 
    Grandfather
    James Wallace, b.1920?
   Grandmother.
    Margaret Cunningham. b 1920?
   
       Greatgrandparents.
       Andrew Cunningham b 1880 Ayrshire.[raised by his grandparents]
       Mary Hardy Walker,b 1881? Married 1899, had Agnes 1900.Kilwinning. [I presume this is the family in the 1901 c]
             [Marys parents will be James Walker and Agnes Wilson]
          GGreatgrandparents.
               Andrew Cunningham born 1856 Kilwinning,
              Helen Linn.(or Isabella) [this is refering to the death cert, of her son 1950., but I feel this name re.Isabella. is an error.] [I have no info on her][but seems she gave her child to the grandparents/inlaw/. as we see Andrew jr in the household of Cunninghams 1881.]

            GGGreatgrandparents. married 28 Oct 1854, Kilwinning.
            Henry Cunningham. b Ayrshire. is in the 1881c &1891c Kilwinning. died 1893 Glasgow.
            Mary Wales, in the 1881c Wife. also 1891c, died after her husband.
                GGGGRandparents
                     Richard Cunningham b. abt 1813. died 1867. Kilwinning
                    Janet/Jean/Jeanie. Maxwell died after her husband.
                        GGGGGrandparents
                             Peter Cunningham [schoolmaster] died before 1867.
                             Sarah Brown.

Remember that when a woman marries, she takes his name,
In the 1901c Andrew Cunningham and Mary Cunningham.
with child Agnes.

Now you will have to buy certificates, and take the right path.
Usually, if a child is illegitimate,[ this may not be the case,here.]
You don't know who the father is, in this case, your Ggrand dad, seems to be raised by his grandparents. you are lucky, that this has happened. mind you,,, you should but the 1891c to see.

Sorry, I don't know what happened to Helen Linn.
See how you go. I am now going to post this on your query at Ayrshire.
kenjo.    P.S. are you familar with the mormons site,   familysearch?

[JAP]

Amanda,

Have you used ScotlandsPeople at:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

This is a pay site but you can get a lot of information.

Statutory registration did not begin in Scotland until 1855 so it will be no use trying to get a marriage certificate for Henry and Mary.

However, if you register with SP and purchase the death certificate of Henry CUNNINGHAM, it should tell you the name and occupation of his father and the maiden name of his mother.

Similarly if you purchase the death certificate of his wife Mary (WALES) CUNNINGHAM it should have information about her parents.  Incidentally, if the informant of Mary's death knew her maiden name (i.e. if it appears on the certificate), her death will be indexed on SP under both her married and maiden surnames.

Do you know about the Free Census project?  It is not complete but searches can be made on the data which has already been transcribed at:
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/

A search for Mary WALES in the 1841 census in Ayrshire brings up only two results - one aged 50 and the other aged 6 in Kilwinning (the latter no doubt your Mary).  The WALES household in Kilwinning comprises Andrew, 35 (ages of persons over 15 were rounded down to the nearest 5 in the 1841 census) a Hand Loom Weaver Cotton, Janet 30, Abram 13, Janet 11, Jean 8, Mary 6, Margaret 4, Helen 2.

I could not find Henry CUNNINGHAM - presumably he was living in an area which has not yet been transcribed.

That's enough information for now ; )

I recommend that you now purchase (download from SP) the death certificates of Henry CUNNINGHAM and Mary (WALES) CUNNINGHAM and work backwards from these (asking more questions here as you need).

Regards,

JAP
 

[kenjo]

Hi Jap,
I have already found the next 2 generations for Amanda,
and she has the certificates, not the Wales one though.
That is how i have put the tree there, above your post.
Regards
kenjo

[JAP]

Hi Amanda and Kenjo,

Kenjo, I had read and digested your post very carefully.

Despite that - and not knowing all the background (perhaps there is more - and even if I had) - I thought that one step at a time might be a very good way for you to go, Amanda.

It's often such very very good fun to do the research oneself!

Thus I thought that Henry's and Mary's death certs would be the first step - and then there might be further questions.

Presumably, Amanda, you don't have these else why would you have asked here about Henry's parents (unless the informant on the death cert didn't know them - though you didn't say that)?  If the death certs of Henry and Mary do give the parents' names, why would you not have mentioned them?   That is surely the first step along your way.

Obviously I've seen more on the IGI about earlier records of this family - much of it from LDS patron submissions where one needs to take great care about the information (including a suggestion that Henry was b St Quivox - an area which isn't currently transcribed on FreeCEN for 1841).

Amanda, I suggest that you go one step at a time and then ask here - and many people, obviously including Kenjo, will surely be only too keen to help.

Very good luck,

JAP